P. G. Wodehouse in Google Books

Google Books provides PDF for many books and magazines that were published before 1927 and are thus in the public domain in the U.S.  Unfortunately, most of these apparently can’t be viewed in other countries, presumably for copyright reasons. 

 

This web page provides links to some periodicals that are available (at least in the US) containing Wodehouse stories and articles, some of which have not been collected in book form (for example, this from The Bookman).  This is not intended to be a complete list; I shall probably add to it later.  Many of Wodehouse’s early novels are also available in PDF here, but I have not attempted to list them; try an “author” search. [Also see the hints in the section below from Neil Midkiff.]

 

When you access pages, click on “Download PDF” for a printable version.  If you don’t see a “Download PDF” option, then there is probably a copyright problem where you live.  Feel free, however, to e-mail me at awrobins@yahoo.com if you want me to scan and e-mail a particular item to you.  I have already scanned the “Personal Details” article, so just e-mail me if you want a copy.

 

Please let me know of any errors you find, or suggestions for additions or improvements.

 

Thanks to the Madame Eulalie team for hosting this page on their site, which provides text for many hard-to-find early Wodehouse items.  Also, for text (though not PDF) of pre-1927 Wodehouse books (including The Gem Collector and other stories not published in book forms), you can do an “author” search in Project Gutenberg.

The Bookman

"Personal Details." The Bookman, vol. 50, Jan. 1920, pp. 407–411

The Century

Bill, the Bloodhound.” The Century, vol. 89, 1915, pp. 613–623

Cosmopolitan

volume 48 (1910)

“The Matrimonial Sweepstakes.” Cosmopolitan 48.3 (Feb. 1910), pp. 282–291

“The Man Upstairs” Cosmopolitan 48.4 (March 1910) 424–432.

 

volume 49 (1910)

“The Man, the Maid, and the Miasma.”  Cosmopolitan 49.1 (June 1910) 51–59. 

“Rough-hew Them How We Will.” Cosmopolitan 49.3 (Aug. 1910) 303–310.

 

Note:  By 1920, Cosmopolitan was no longer using consecutive pagination, so for stories from 1920–1922, I am providing not the pages numbers of the actual magazine, but the page numbers for the PDF.  Thus, for volume 69, download the PDF (which has 1100 pages for the six issues from July 1920 to December 1920), then type the page numbers given into the “page” box (e.g., page 72 for the beginning of the first story, “Dear Old Squiffy,” page 258 for the second story, “Doing Father a Bit of Good”).  The page numbers given should also make it easier to print stories.

 

volume 69 (1920)

Pages 72–77, 132 (of 1100-page PDF, pages 65ff of the July issue)

pp. 258–263, 353, 355

pp. 434–439,511,513

pp. 594–599,645,647

pp. 816–821,823,825

pp. 964–969,1007,1009,1013

 

volume 70 (1921)

pp. 88–93

pp. 226–231

 

volume 71 (1921)

pp. 783ff. (pages poorly scanned, story incomplete), 847–851

 

volume 72 (1922)

pp. 360–364,381

pp. 506–510,535

pp. 666–670,677,679

pp. 826–830,843,845,847

 

volume 73 (1922)

pp. 111–115,166–168

pp. 267–271,319–320

pp. 425–429,467–469

pp. 593–597,658–659

pp. 759–763,788,790

[pp. 908–910,926–928 — again, story poorly scanned, incomplete]

Hampton’s Magazine

The Watch Dog,” vol. 25 (1910), pp. 47–56

McClure’s

 

vol. 43 (1914)

“Brother Fans,” August 1914, pp. 54–61 (= “One Touch of Nature”)

“A Sea of Troubles,” Sep. 1914, pp. 87–95

“Creatures of Impulse,” Oct. 1914, pp. 48–55

 

vol. 53 (1921)

“The Coming of Gowf,” June/July 1921

 

vol. 54 (1922)

“The Long Hole,” March 1922, pp. 59ff

Munsey’s Magazine

“The White Hope,” vol. 51, May 1914, pp. 803–927

Pearson’s Magazine

vol. 14, no. 3 (1905)

“Kid Brady — Light-Weight.”  September 1905, pp. 235–241

 

vol. 16, no. 1 (1906)

“How Kid Brady Fought for His Eyes,” July 1906, pp. 65–70

 

vol. 17 (1907)

“How Kid Brady Took a Sea Voyage,” March 1907, pp. 318–324

Strand Magazine

 

vol. 30 (1905)

“The Wire-Pullers,” July 1905, pp. 29–34

“The Lost Bowlers,” September 1905, pp. 298–303

 

vol. 31 (1906)

“Petticoat Influence,” March1906, pp. 207–214

Vanity Fair (US)

 

vol. 19 (1922–1923)

Drawbacks of the Drama in England,” Dec. 1922, p. 62

Should Ocean Liners Be Abolished?” Jan. 1923, p. 37

Windsor Magazine

 

vol. 17 (1903)

“Cupid and the Paint-brush,” April 1903, pp. 687–690

 

vol. 24

“A Benefit Match,” Aug. 1906, pp. 330–336

 

vol. 25

“The Fifteenth Man,” Dec. 1906, pp. 169–176

 

vol. 28 (1908)

“Ladies and Gentlemen v. Players,” August 1908, pp. 275–281

“The Guardian,” Oct. 1908, pp.  462–470 (warning:  nudity on p. 467)

 

 

I suspect there are many more.  I urge you to go and search for yourselves.  (I know there are some from Punch, which I haven’t bothered to list.)

 


Neil Midkiff adds: To the above instructions by Arthur Robinson, let me suggest that when the link is to a complete volume instead of to the first page of the article, you may need to click on the "Preview this book »" link to the right of the small image of the cover of the volume. Once on that page, the “Download PDF” command is now hidden in the drop-down menu that you get when clicking on the “gear” icon button.

Many of the links on Google Books from a simple search on Wodehouse are to recent cheap knockoff publications of the public-domain books, some of which are abysmally proofread (if at all) from optical-character-recognition scans, and shoddily typeset. To search for pre-1927 book editions, the easiest way is to click here to search Google Books for free Wodehouse editions. This search will yield scans of first editions (or early reprints from the same plates) for many of the early books.

For some reason, the Google Books search engine doesn’t do well on searches like “Punch volume 123” so to save effort, here are the Punch volumes containing Wodehouse material:

Punch

Volume 123 (1902)

Volume 124 (1903)

Volume 125 (1903)

Volume 126 (1904)

Volume 127 (1904)

Volume 128 (1905)

Volume 129 (1905)

Volume 130 (1906)

Volume 131 (1906)

Volume 132 (1907)

Volume 133 (1907)

Other volumes are at the Internet Archive:

Volume 144 & 145 (1913)

Volume 146 & 147 (1914)

 

The individual items are listed and transcribed on Madame Eulalie, but you may enjoy seeing them in context. As a rule, Google Books search does better with titles or characteristic phrases from the item: “punch "sherlock holmes lay hidden"” will get you quickly to “Back to His Native Strand”, for instance. The Wodehouse items in Punch are unsigned, and credited (usually) in the index at the end of each bound half-yearly volume.

To find stories or serializations in other magazines, a Google Books search like “collier's wodehouse deep waters” will usually get you a link to what you want, if Google has scanned the original magazine bound volume.

As you investigate the original printings this way, if you find any discrepancies with the transcriptions on Madame Eulalie, please let me know at . —Neil Midkiff

Another great source for Wodehouse is the Internet Archive. Many books can be downloaded as PDFs if they are out of copyright; others can be “borrowed” for an hour at a time (read on screen as scanned images from printed books). This search link will get you started.

 

http://madameulalie.org/arobinson/wodehousegooglebooks.html

Prepared by Arthur Robinson 7 June 2010;
updated by Neil Midkiff 1 May 2022


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